After facing Felix in an intrasquad game back in February, Brendan Ryan had this to say about Felix:
"I don't know what the heck he is throwing," he said in the clubhouse following the game. "He says he is throwing four seamers but I know damn well those aren't 4 seamers because they are doing different things each time."
"The strikeout?" he continued. "The first one was straight and then cut at the last second. I don't remember him doing that. Then dirty slider, and then a different slider and then I don't know what that last pitch was. It defied...things. It was a fastball that went straight down. He says it is a four seamer, I'm saying check that ball."
Listen to the audio here: http://mynorthwest.com/category/pod_player_sports/?a=39539&p=22&n=Seattl...
Q. Does Felix' fastball move ridiculously?
A. IT DOES NOT. Thanks ever'body! Drive home safely!
Felix' four-seam fastball, for his career, sails out -5.8 inches and rises +7.8 inches. This is absolutely industry average.
This year? AFTER HIS LAST START, Adrian Gonzalez -- who plays in the American League and plays rather well .... shook his head angrily and said "Felix' fastball, which is normally real straight, was cutting (today)." That, from the batter's box, was the issue. Felix' fastball was cutting.
Saying that Felix Hernandez' (old, four-seam, armside-tailing) fastball has ridiculous movement is like saying Jason Vargas has ridiculous velocity, or that Brendan Ryan has ridiculous power. People should stop saying it simply because --- > people should tell the truth.
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Felix has had some problems during his career. His first two seasons, his ERA's were 4.52 and 3.92, those in Safeco. Remember that? It was because his nice, straight 4-seam fastball was getting crushed by left hand hitters. For home runs. Go check the splits.
Also in 2011 Felix had a disappointing year - his ERA rising +1.20 runs over the previous year, as his fastball run values crashed.
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Look, he's been a Mariner for seven, eight years now. He's human, and when he shows it once in a while, it's always because of that straight, hittable fastball. It might be heresy, but it's also true, and it's obvious.
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Q. This pitch that Gonzalez said was cutting. Does THAT have ridiculous movement?
A. Actually a cutter is thrown because it doesn't move.
A four-seam fastball sails armside 5-6 inches. Cutters move horizontally 0 inches, give or take two inches. I wouldn't call THAT ridiculous movement, either. Have you ever heard anybody say that Dan Haren's cutter had ridiculous movement? But that moves as much Felix' cutter does. Admittedly, it does it at 86 MPH rather than at 93 MPH....
Bob Feller described his cut fastball as one he threw "with spin like a football," with his fingers sliding off it to the side, pulling the windowshade down. If your fingers are not BEHIND the ball, if you're not driving the pitch down the centerline from behind it .... how can you still get 93 MPH on it? The fact that Felix' fastball cuts, at 93 MPH, that truly is ridiculous.
It's quite possible that Felix Hernandez, and Mariano Rivera, are the only two guys in baseball history who can make a ball slide into lefties at > 92 MPH. The only two EVER.
I don't know why the Seattle blog-o-sphere chooses to focus on the semantics of this, and to argue about who noticed it first. Felix' 93 MPH cut fastball is a miracle pitch, and the ramifications of it are thrilling. It's like if Erasmo Ramirez came out next start and threw 99 MPH. What would you want to talk about? :- ) How about a World Series?
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